Australia's 21st century tastebuds bear little or no resemblance to those of our grandparents growing up.

The proof of the pudding can be found in a companion book to the the long-running Presbyterian Womens Missionary Union cookbook, which will have its 114th yearly edition published later this year.

From Suet to Saffron shows how Australia's cuisine has changed over that period as food availability, immigration, economic privation, culture and increasing wealth made their impact.

Author and historian, Fiona Bligh says her research on the PWMU cookbook highlighted how women moving from the stove top to the desktop has altered our experience at the dining table.

"Regular revisions of its contents have shown the impact of immigration, technology and the changing role of women in Australian culture."

"The guiding factor for the cookbook writers (in the early 1900s) at the beginning was 'let's make this a book that would be the housewife's friend,'" says Ms Bligh.

"This was a resource for women who were marrying very young, 19 or 20, and then running their own households."

"They could go to this book and find (out) how to do everything."

However there was some quirky advice back in 1916.

"As an article of diet, fish is inferior to lean meat. It is less stimulating and less nourishing...Provided as a chief dish for dinner, it should be followed by a substantial pudding, as fish is lacking heat and energy-producing constituents."

Fiona says the latest version of the book shows plenty of fish recipes and that example indicates just one of the hundreds of ways Australians have shifted attitudes to what is served up for the family.